Candiate Resources

4 Better Ways to Answer “Why Do You Want to Work at This Company?

by Lily Zhang - This article originally appeared on The Muse

When you’re preparing for an interview, there are a few questions that you absolutely must know how to answer—not just because they’re common, but because they’ll help you figure out the big picture points you want to leave with the interviewer. Think, “Tell me about yourself,” “Why are you interested in this position?” “What on your resume prepares you for this position?” and “Why do you want to work for this company?”

Since you can’t really talk about your skills, “Why this company?” might be the trickiest. So, how do you approach this super-common interview question without leaning on your resume and without sounding like every other candidate who goes on about how excited he or she is to work for a company that “values transparency” and has a “great company culture?”

To help you get started, here are four angles to consider.

1. Acknowledge the Company’s Uniqueness

The key to answering this question well is being specific. If you can give the same answer to...

7 Signs Of Job Burnout (5 Ways To Fix It)

Tai Goodwin

Just like any other relationship, your relationship with your job is going to have its’ ups and downs. In some cases it can be clear the best solution is for the two of you to separate – meaning you will need to find a new job. In other cases, making a few changes to how you work can rekindle your passion for what you do, allowing you to keep your job and your sanity.

You may not have any physical signs of job burnout. The list below highlights seven red flags that signal you may be overwhelmed and could benefit from making some changes.

It’s Monday 10:00 AM and you can’t wait for Friday.
Your meeting status: unprepared and uninterested.
You’re more inspired to make an excuse than make a deadline.
You daydream about getting sick so you have an excuse to stay home.
You avoid people because you’re afraid of getting more work.
People avoid you because they don’t want to hear about your workload.
You use the 50/50 rule: you spend 50% of your time trying to figure out how to...

4 Steps For Taking Your Networking To The Next Level

Heather Huhman

While being on the job search is a daunting task for most, it’s important to enjoy the process. After all, having a positive attitude can make a world of difference! But how can you maintain a positive attitude during a long, frustrating job search? Good networking!

Instead of spending all your time and energy on mainstream job boards, get off your bottom and meet new people! While I don’t recommend giving up on job boards altogether, I definitely feel networking is the best way to use your time wisely during your job search.

For example, one great analogy I love to use is the person who goes to the gym for an hour but doesn’t even break a sweat. This isn’t working out. Sure, you drove to the gym and stayed there for an hour, but did you truly leverage your abilities? Similarly, when on the job hunt, it’s important “sweat” a little – work hard and use your time strategically to obtain your dream job.

The Pain-Free Guide To Optimizing Your LinkedIn Profile

Melissa Cooper

Is LinkedIn an active part of your job search? Have you maximized your profile, polishing it until it shines?

If not, there’s a good chance you’re behind the curve — by about a decade.

According to LinkedIn, 5.7 billion job-oriented searches were done on the platform in 2012. This means that recruiters in your industry are hopping on the social media giant any time they need to locate new talent.

So, consider what they’re going to find. One professional has a bare bones LinkedIn profile that includes his name, title, and a basic summary — more or less a copied-and-pasted resume. Another professional includes the same information, but her tone is conversational and full of powerful keywords. She describes past roles in first person, providing insight into critical duties and how she overcame challenges.

3 Things Your LinkedIn Profile Must Include

Jewel Bracy DeMaio

Your LinkedIn summary is 2,000 characters of prime real estate to genuinely differentiate yourself among the three million member online community.

Make it personal

Before you even get to the details of the work, show yourself to be a human being interested in a genuine human connection. The interviewer is not a criminal investigator, and you are not sitting under the hot police lights. It’s not an adversarial relationship, but a collaborative one. The interviewer is looking to support and advance his organization’s goals, and so are you – that’s what you have in common.

Find additional areas of mutual interest by researching the person interviewing you. Nearly everyone has an online presence in social media. Perhaps you’ll come across a personal blog and discover you share a hobby or pastime. Another possibility is uncovering the interviewer’s whitepapers and articles about the future direction of the company or the industry at large.

Special Grammar Rules For Resumes

Don Goodman

After years of attending school and being educated on the English language, you’ll learn that a lot of the grammar rules don’t exist when it comes to writing the resume.

Your resume is a marketing tool, and your “advertisement” does not always follow the traditional grammar rules. Its only purpose is to grab the reader’s attention and cause them to want to know more about you.

Here are some ways the resume is different in its grammatical style.

Doesn’t include the special class of adjectives known as articles, like “the,” “a,” and “an.”

In resumes, every sentence is written like a headline.

For example, English language: “I managed the inventory and deployment of….”

3 Signs Your Career Is At A Standstill

Don Goodman

Sometimes you may find yourself bored at work – but is it really boredom or has your career come to a standstill? Either way, it is no way to progress in your career. Take action to change the situation!

There are several reasons why you may be feeling bored or stuck in your career. Some of the common reasons include:

1. You’ve reached the top or you haven’t seen a promotion in a long time.

In many careers, there is a particular path that is followed to move up. If you’ve progressed and reached the top, there may be no room to move further. Perhaps you started by facing certain challenges, but after they are overcome, you are finding yourself just doing the same old thing and it doesn’t excite you.

Or if you haven’t seen a promotion or a raise in two years, it’s a clear sign your career has stalled. In these situations or if you are just unhappy, it is time to move on to other opportunities. Employers want to see career progression, so the longer you wait, the...

5 Resume Formatting Rules For The ATS

Don Goodman

If you don’t want your resume falling into a black hole, follow these resume formatting rules.

1. File format.

Save your resume as a .doc or .txt file. This ensures your resume can be read by ATS software. The newer version of Microsoft Word will have you saving your files as .docx, but keep in mind not everyone is on board with the updated software. Saving your resume file as .doc ensures it can be read whether the employer is using a newer or older version of Microsoft Word. Note that many Applicant Tracking System cannot read PDF files.

2. Search terms.

The ATS software works by searching for required terms the employer puts in, and the resumes with the most matches to the search terms get a higher ranking. As a job seeker, you may never know exactly what all the terms are, but you can pretty much figure what is a close match. Review the job posting for keywords. Also look at job postings from other employers for the same position for relevant keywords.

The ‘Skills Gap’ Issue For Job Seekers

Jim Schreier

The debate over a “skills gap” is not particularly new – but, in recent weeks, it’s escalated because of some very interesting and different perspectives of the issue. For job seekers, it’s a very important issue because human resource professionals and hiring managers are going to be assessing a candidate’s qualifications within the context of the “skills gap.”

The consensus among managers and human resource professionals is that there are significant skills gaps – that organizations struggle to identify and hire individuals with the specific skills needed. On the flip side of this position, a New York Times editorial called the idea “mostly a corporate fiction” saying “don’t blame the workforce.” The editorial blamed companies for its failures to properly train workers, charging that companies want schools and government to bear the responsibility. What’s interesting about this position is that in denying a skills gap the editorial inherently states it does exist.

7 Mistakes That Make Your Professional Resume - And You - Look Old

Amanda Augustine (The Ladders)

An article that is relevant to those who need to polish their resume and have a lengthy job history.

Are your job applications saying the wrong thing about you?

Resumes, like many other marketing materials, have an expiration date. As technology changes and the job-search process becomes more mobile, it’s important to reevaluate and edit your resume periodically. Your resume is a reflection of you – and you don’t want recruiters thinking you’re outdated because your document is. Here’s how to know if your resume needs an update.

It’s become too long

An eye-tracking study by The Ladders found that the average recruiter spends only six seconds reviewing a resume before deciding if it’s worth a closer inspection. Maximize your exposure by limiting your resume to one page if you’re new to the workforce or two pages if you’re a seasoned professional. Remember, your resume should always highlight the skills, experience, and accomplishments that are...